Small Q about collectors!

[Arcalyn]

These info collectors.....

Could I use one on a zone I created?

Example......

1) Start with a blank DB.
2) Place NPCs in the exact spots I want them. (dunno if NPC wandering has been implimented yet but) with exact names.
3) Have the zone persistant so they all get saved.
4) Use packet? collector to gather the locs and enter them into the DB?
5) Zone is then permanently populated & #repop works.

I wouldn't ask this if I had the time to experiment.
Once June hits I'll finally have some time & finally a cable modem.
So I'll be able to set-up a Forgotten Realms -realm-

[Shawn319]

Yes and no.. the spawn collector left with Merkur :(

[Trumpcard]

Well, we stil have showeq logs combned with Drawde's, Ariaks, and Lurkers skill, so I dont think we should be too bad off.

I would have liked to see spawncollector in action though. Did it dump directly to an SQL file, or did the log output still have to be parsed into one?

[Lyenu X`Arie]

It was turned into an SQL file that you just source into the database.

[asiegman]

I don't know how the packet's look, as I haven't tried to map them myself.

However, I would *think* that the EQ client tells you when/where/what something spawns if you are in the zone when it spawns.

To me, I wouldn't think it'd be very hard to take that information and add it to a file somewhere, then source that file in to the DB. Or put it straight to the DB. Please note, I do not suggest using ALL information it gives you on spawns, JUST when something spawns after it's been killed once. This is because of roamers, we want to know WHERE they spawn, not where they are when you zone in.

Now this collector would probably have to do a lot of collectiong before getting accurate. I am guessing theres probably some kind of spawn table for each spawn location. Any one of, say, 7 mobs can spawn at one spot. Sooo, the spawn collector would need to organize it's spawns by zone, then by spawn location, then by mob info on what mobs spawn there.

Now, the best way I would think this could work is if everyone ran it, straight out, to get as much info about spawns as they can.

However, this only works if you recieve special info when a mob spawns. It's more likely that they keep you updated on where spawns are similar as how they do PCs, where they are sending you information about all relevant PCs in the zone, constantly.

Just some ponderings. Maybe if you have a link I can look at for more info on the packet structure, or perhaps just a quick blurb about how the client is informed of where NPCs are/aren't, I can think of an actual way to program this. Hell, maybe if I take the time to learn programming for MySQL AND Packet Sniffing (neither of which I've bothered to learn how to do yet) I could program it too =P

[Lyenu X`Arie]

When I finish all my projects I'll look into this, since no one else really bothers with it cause we're to busy on the Emu and getting everything working good again from the May 8th patch.